PQ cabinet sworn in as Elsie Lefebvre takes four portfolios

Paul St-Pierre Plamondon was sworn in as Quebec’s 34th premier on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and unveiled a 23-member Parti Québécois cabinet in which former Québecor media columnist Elsie Lefebvre takes four portfolios, including higher education and housing, Radio-Canada and CBC News reported.

The ceremony at the National Assembly in Quebec City began at 1:30 p.m. ET, CBC reported, and Radio-Canada’s live coverage recorded St-Pierre Plamondon taking his oaths as premier at 2:14 p.m. It brings the sovereigntist party back to power for the first time in more than a decade, The Canadian Press reported. The PQ won 59 seats in the Oct. 5 election, five short of the 64 needed for a majority, and will govern as a minority.

Lefebvre, the member for Berthier, is minister of higher education, minister responsible for housing, minister responsible for the status of women and minister responsible for the Lanaudière region, according to Radio-Canada and CBC. Her name was among Google’s trending searches in Canada on Wednesday. She finished her oath by calling out “Vive le Québec!” (“Long live Quebec!”, translated from French), which Radio-Canada described as a first at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Lefebvre sat as the PQ member for Laurier-Dorion from 2004 to 2007, Radio-Canada reported. CBC reported she was a Montreal city councillor for the Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension borough from 2009 to 2017 and, more recently, a columnist and contributor for Québecor media outlets.

Radio-Canada reported the cabinet has 22 members plus the premier and is gender-balanced. CBC said St-Pierre Plamondon noted it is smaller than the 29-member cabinet of the former Coalition Avenir Québec government.

Among the main appointments reported by Radio-Canada and CBC, Catherine Gentilcore becomes deputy premier and minister of immigration and integration, and is also responsible for Quebec’s accession to independence. Nicolas Marceau returns as finance minister, a post he held from 2012 to 2014, and Radio-Canada said he also takes infrastructure. Joël Arseneau, who has represented Îles-de-la-Madeleine since 2018, is minister of national education, and Marie-Karlynn Laflamme is minister of health, prevention and seniors.

Nicolas Girard takes transport, sustainable mobility and municipal affairs, Stéphane Paquet becomes minister of economic development, innovation and energy and minister responsible for Montreal, and Dieudonné Ella Oyono is minister of international relations, the Francophonie and foreign trade, according to Radio-Canada. Marie-Claude Sarrazin becomes justice minister and attorney general and, Radio-Canada said, also handles intergovernmental affairs. The premier kept the fight against homelessness for himself.

The swearing-in also broke with tradition. For the first time in the province’s history, the lieutenant-governor did not preside, CBC reported. Lt.-Gov. Manon Jeannotte agreed to a written request from St-Pierre Plamondon to stay away, as we reported on Tuesday, and was to sign the appointment documents from her nearby office.

“We firmly intend to abolish this monarchy in Quebec, both within our democratic institutions and in our civil society,” St-Pierre Plamondon wrote in that letter, according to CBC News. The lieutenant-governor’s office told CBC that “nothing requires her to be there, and she does not wish to become the centre of attention.”

The oath itself is before the courts. Lawyer Lawrence David is asking Quebec Superior Court for an emergency order suspending Bill 4, the 2022 law that made the oath to the King optional for members of the legislature, The Canadian Press reported. His case was heard on Tuesday, Oct. 20, La Presse reported, and CBC said Judge Ian Demers was to hear it. David argues Quebec could not change the Constitution on its own. No ruling had been reported by the sources we checked at the time of publication. The PQ’s 59 members took an oath to the people of Quebec rather than the King when they were sworn in on Oct. 15.

For Quebecers, the new government’s early priorities include a bill to freeze the salaries of members of the legislature, ministers and the heads of major Crown corporations until the budget is balanced, CBC reported. Our earlier look at the PQ’s first 100 days sets out the rest of the agenda.

For Ottawa, the new cabinet includes a minister charged with Quebec independence. St-Pierre Plamondon has promised a sovereignty referendum in his first term, but not before U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029, and has vowed to pull Quebec out of the Alto high-speed rail project, The Canadian Press reported. Prime Minister Mark Carney said after the election that he had discussed infrastructure funding and support for tariff-hit workers with the new premier. “This is a crucial time for our country, it’s a crucial time for Quebec,” Carney said, according to The Canadian Press. The legislature is to reconvene on Nov. 17, Radio-Canada reported.

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